Movies

Belgium’s Lukas Dhont takes a deserved step up to the Cannes Film Festival competition with Close, only his second film — a minimalist melodrama that shows a definite growth in visual style but may be confronting to some with its deliberately unhurried, Eric Rohmer-esque aesthetic. The international success of Dhont’s well-intentioned debut Girl, about a

EXCLUSIVE: Mubi has acquired Lukas Dhont’s Cannes Competion entry Close for the UK, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India. Starring Lea Drucker (Custody), Émilie Dequenne (Our Children), Kevin Janssens (Revenge) and newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele, the film will get its world premiere on the Riviera this week. In Close, the intense friendship between two

EXCLUSIVE: Clear Talent Group’s Founder Tim O’Brien has promoted Brianna Ancel to President of the bi-coastal talent agency, upping Jamie Harris to Vice President. Ancel has headed up CTG’s Adult Theatrical Department since its inception in 2003, and has served as Vice President since 2009. Her client list includes actors Richard Brooks (Law & Order),

“As you are all aware, there was another mass shooting today, this time in my hometown of Uvalde, Texas,” Matthew McConaughey wrote in a message posted to social media tonight. The Oscar winner spent the first 12 years of his life in Uvalde, which is about 80 miles west of San Antonio and where today

EXCLUSIVE: WME has signed filmmaker R.J. Cutler and his production company This Machine, fresh off the announcement of Cutler’s upcoming documentary on Elton John. “The agency will work with the award-winning filmmaker – who has made some of the most significant documentaries and television series of the past quarter century – in all areas,” according

Alice Winocour (Proxima) is in Cannes with a Directors’ Fortnight film Paris Memories which follows a woman recovering from physical and mental trauma. On a Saturday in the fall, Mia (Virginie Efira)  is caught up in a terrorist attack while visiting a Parisian bistro. Three months later, she’s still trying to pick up the pieces

EXCLUSIVE: Wellington Paranormal‘s Mike Minogue and Shortland Street actor Tim Foley are launching creative talent agency Frank Management with Kiwi agent Naomi Ferry. The trio has created the New Zealand-based company with a pledge to offer an alternative for all creatives seeking representation. They say their collective experience in acting, writing and producing and representation positions Frank as a “unique

EXCLUSIVE: Entering the second week of the Cannes Film Festival, Sony Pictures Television has snapped up multi-territory Latin American rights to FilmSharks’ Amor Bandido, with Raymond Murray’s CineNova Releasing taking U.S. rights. The film, from Daniel Werner, premiered last year at the Buenes Aires Film Festival (BAFICI) and has already sold to Bluelabel Pictures (South Korea)

EXCLUSIVE: Holy Spider, the Ali Abbasi-directed Iranian serial killer thriller, is in talks for a deal for U.S. rights with Utopia, the U.S. sales and distribution firm owned by Robert Schwartzman and Cole Harper. The provocative Cannes Competition film premiered today on the Croisette to strong applause and positive notices. CAA Media Finance is brokering

With theatrical still returning from the doldrums of Covid, several across the industry have racked their heads about the chasm of product on the big screen, and whether cinemas are strictly destinations for tentpoles, and nothing else. All of this is occurring as streaming has swallowed up specialty auteurish movies, increasingly becoming the prime platform

Lukas Dhont’s Cannes debut was also his debut feature, Girl, which ran in Un Certain Regard in 2018. A stunning start for the young Belgian, the movie brought him the Caméra d’Or and myriad other prizes down the line. Now, four years later, Dhont is returning to Cannes with his follow-up, Close, which has landed

Formed in April 2021 to help ease the financial challenges placed on independent film productions in the Covid era, Project Indie Hope has launched the non-profit Project Indie Hope Foundation as it looks to expand. Gerry Pass, CEO and founder of Project Indie Hope and Chrome Entertainment, says the organization has already aided almost 200

The 75th Cannes Film Festival kicked off with a star-studded opening ceremony that not only doubled as a premiere for the French film Final Cut (Coupez!), but also included Forest Whitaker accepting his honorary Palme d’Or and a surprise video address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The event was attended by red carpet standouts Eva

It may be impossible for a human to truly imagine the mindset of a donkey, but veteran Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski for the most part does a very engaging job of imagining how a beast of burden sees and senses the world in EO. Quite clearly conceived as a companion piece and response to Robert

Universal Pictures has acquired the action-comedy spec Shots! Shots! Shots! penned by Matt Mider and Kevin Burrows (The Package), with Jason Momoa (Dune) coming aboard to star. The film’s plot is being kept under wraps. A director has not yet been set. Momoa and producing partner Jeff Fierson will produce alongside Rideback’s Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich,

Frank Grillo is set to star in Liam O’Donnell’s horror-thriller Merciless, which Sentient Pictures International is shopping here in Cannes this week. The company also has announced that Columbian actor Juan Pablo Raba (Peppermint, Narcos) has been tapped to lead Antonio Negret’s new action thriller Sombra. Merciless is directed by Liam O’Donnell, the director behind

UPDATED: Tom Cruise was lauded with a surprise Palme d’Or tonight at the Top Gun: Maverick premiere capping off a big day for the 3x Oscar nominee at the Cannes Film Festival. The film received a five-minute standing ovation from the crowd. Prior to receiving the Palme, which wasn’t expected, he was given a tribute reel

EXCLUSIVE: MUBI has picked up U.S. and Canadian rights to Ricky D’Ambrose’s The Cathedral starring Top Gun: Maverick’s Monica Barbaro. Visit Films is handling international rights and will be bringing the feature to the Marché du film in Cannes, following a deal negotiated with Ryan Kampe and Lydia Rodman of Visit on behalf of the filmmakers. The Cathedral

EXCLUSIVE: Patricia Velasquez (The Mummy), Gian Franco Rodriguez (Halston), Rumer Willis (Sorority Row), Billy Budinich (Frank and Penelope) and newcomer Isabella Feliciana will star in the social impact film Maya from director Julia Verdin (Angie: Lost Girls), which has entered production in Los Angeles. The film written by Verdin looks to raise awareness on key issues

EXCLUSIVE: UK film outfit Lightbulb Film Distribution has picked up well-received Sundance sci-fi comedy Something In The Dirt, marking the company’s biggest acquisition to date. Shot during the pandemic, the intimate film is directed by and starring Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, the filmmaking duo behind Synchronic and The Endless. For their fifth feature, the pair